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Probate as a result of improper verbage on warranty deed

Posted on: 13th Mar, 2009 08:39 am
Hello, In 2005 my ex husband and I purchased a home in Utah. The deed of trust clearly states husband and wife as joint tenants. The title company that created the warranty deed and issued owners title insurance did not include the verbage "husband and wife as joint tenants". My ex husband passed away in December 2008, and shortly after I listed the house for sale. I have a qualified buyer and after a preliminary title search discovered that the title agency had not included the verbage above. Now in order to sell the house the title agency says I will need to have an attorney (theirs) go through a probate process that basically seeks the consent of my ex husbands two children for me to have complete ownership and rights to sell. The snag-if either of his children contest the process my qualified buyers are going to walk and I lose the sale of my home while the title agency was the one to blame for this oversight. An additional piece of information: my ex husband chose to die by unnatural causes and left a letter which he indicated was his last will and testament. He also left me a personal letter and in both he indicates that I have his permission to do whatever I want with the house. In the divorce papers we stipulated that the house being sold would be his and another property we own would be mine but we never went through the process of actually changing the title and warranty deed. Any advice would be helpful in this matter.
Hi Liz,

Since the title to the house doesn't clearly mention the joint tenancy form of ownership and there is no legally valid will left by your husband, you need to file an Affidavit of Heirship with a probate court. If the probate court is convinced that there is no other title-claim on the property, the judge will issue a title with you as the lone owner of the property. I think you should consult a lawyer to find if there is any other option as the probate process usually takes up a lot of time and money.
Posted on: 13th Mar, 2009 11:40 pm
Looking for a Utah Warranty deed
Posted on: 16th May, 2009 03:21 pm
Hi LHS!

Welcome to forums!

You can get warranty deed for Utah in the given link:
uslegalforms.com/deedforms/utah-deed-forms.htm

This is not a sample deed form and you will have to download the form.

Sussane
Posted on: 17th May, 2009 08:41 pm
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